West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-05-27
MERRIMAC VS.. MONITOR.
A Midshipman's Account Of the Battle
With the "CheeseboI."

of the famous fight between the
Monitor and the Merrimac, "that
extensive preparations were made in
the repair to the Merrimac after the
ight so as to have the next contest
between the two iron clads one
'of short duration. l was a mid
shipman on the Merrimac when she
fought the Monitor, and Ican say
that we were taken wholly by sur
prise when the strange vessel put in
an appearance in Hampton roads.
We had sunk the Cumberland,
caused the Congress to burn, and
the Minnesota and one or two others
to run aground, and on that morning
when we went out, we thought to
finish the Minnesota, which had
b cen unable to get itself of the bar,
our first intimation of the presence
of the Monitor was when we saw her
run out from behind the Minnesota
to attack us before we could begin
the onset upon the Minnesota. We
thought at first it was q raft on
which one Of the Minnesota's boil
ers was being taken to the shore for
repairs, and when suddenly shot
was fired from her turret we imag-
ined an accidental explosion of some
kind had taken place on the raft.
'In the engagement that followed
we were unable to do anything with
her though our guns were served
continuously and broadside after
broadside was discharged. We tried
to ram her, but found that our PROV
had been too badly damaged by run
ming into the Cumberland on the
day before to inhict any harm upon
the Monitor. She pounded us con-
siderably, but not shot penetrated
our armor, though twas lOosened and
repairs made imperative at the earli-
est moment. Our vessel was leak
ing badly, but by active efforts we
were enabled to keep her from talk
inc too much wato.'. w Is we had
twenty one of on. crew wsn aded, we
thought that We had esca red losses
in that respect in aremarEablc dc
gree. Had shot from the Monitor
entered one of our port holes it
would have probably killed fifty
men, for there was crew Of $50
men aboard, so that there wonld be
no lack of help when an emergency
should arise, and we were quite
closely packed together.
THE CONFEDERATEs' PLAN.
about > o'clock in the afternoon
the Monitor withdrew from the fight
and went over the bar into shallow
water, where we, drawing much more
water than she. could not follow.
We understood that she had run out
of ammunition. AS we were leaking
| badly and there was no prospect
| that we would be able to reach the
! Minnesota IN the shallow water
where she lay, our captain gave the
order to return to Norfolk, where we
Immediately went into dry dock for
repairs. 1t was fully month before
we were ready to 90 out again, and
meanwhile all sorts of reports were
circulated among the Federals about
us. 1t was claimd that we were
afraid TO show ourselves to fight, all
of which we only laughed at, feeling
that we would soon be able to give
good account of ourselves. |
think that if the two vessels had
again met We should have made
short work of the Monitor. Every
bit of our armor had been replaced
by plates two inches thick, and we
had also large number of shot for
the finch guns in the form of bolts
about 3! feet in length, pointed with
steel, with which we intended to
make certainly an impression upon
the Monitor. Beside all these things
we had organized q boarding party,
which was divided into several sec
tions.
''It was the plan Tor the proposed
engagement that the Merrimac
should at once run alongside of the
Monitor. We could easily do this,
for our engines were more powerful
than hers and we could make greater
speed. Then one section of the
boarding party would Immediately
put down gang planks by which the
men would speedily get on board the
Monitor, one section Of them taking
sledges and iron wedges to drive be
tween the turret of the ship and her
deck, so as to prevent it from revOlv-
ing and pointing her guns at us;
another party was to run around the
turret with hawser made fast to
our bow and which was TO lie coiled
upon deck ready for the emergency,
and after the circuit had been made.
of the turret the plan was to faSten
the other end of the hawser to the
Merrimac and thus bind the two
vessels together. While this was
/ going on another party was to rush
to the turret and everywhere else
that an opportunity was offered and
pour oil down into the hold of the
Monitor and then set fire to it. An
! otbar fOrca waS tO he ready with